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The Canterbury Tales at Southwark Playhouse, London SE1

Sam Marlowe

December 22 2011, 1:25pm, The Times

Canterbury Tales at Southwark PlayhouseMarilyn Kingwill

It was from Southwark’s Tabard Inn that Chaucer’s pilgrims set off on their journey to Canterbury; and in this vigorous staging of a selection of their tales, that’s where the action takes place. The audience is seated on wooden trunks and benches; there’s a hayloft to facilitate illicit rumpy pumpy and a bar flogging beer and mulled wine by the tankard. The atmosphere is relaxed, convivial — and loud. It’s a nice idea to encourage spectators to wander up to the bar whenever they want a top-up. But in practice, it’s an unwelcome distraction. Add to that the chaotic lack of focus in Juliane von Sivers’s production, and you have a storytelling session that, while likeably homespun, is frequently in danger of losing its narrative thread.…